My Ninja Way
by Teriel
Summary: But Sasuke asked calmly, his voice trembling slightly, "How…can you say that?" Sasuke looked away from Naruto's face and looked up at the blue sky which was the same colour as Naruto's eyes. It was a beautiful colour filled with warmth. He couldn't bear to look at the emotions Naruto's eyes were showing him. Sasuke already knew the answer to that question... Time Travel Narusasu
1. Prologue

Prologue:

Sasuke tried to open his eyes, smelling blood and the odour of dust settling down. For an instant he felt disorientated and could not remember where he was. His shifted trying to move and a sharp pain shot through his right hand and it felt like his nerves were literally on fire.

"Oww…" he moaned, his eyelids felt so heavy and any attempts at opening them sent a sharp pain to his head, notifying him of over-using the sharingan. Wait the sharingan…

"So you've finally regained consciousness…" Naruto's familiar voice whispered from his left sounding just as pained as he felt. At this Sasuke's eyes opened quickly and widened as all his memories of the past few hours returned. He had used the Kagutsuchi to settle the fight once and for all against Naruto aiming to kill and Naruto had used a similar jutsu to counter it. The resulting explosion had knocked him out.

It took a few moments for Sasuke to come to the undeniable conclusion when Naruto spoke again, interrupting his thoughts, "It's just as it looks…" Sasuke turned to the left and saw Naruto's eyes, they weren't gloating as he'd expected. "You and I can't move…we've lost too much blood. We will die here." Naruto stated as if having accepted the fact that they were going to die, his voice dull and lifeless.

Sasuke felt an anger so huge cloud his thoughts, he'd only felt like this when it came to Naruto. He also knew the symptoms of blood loss and feeling your life being pulled away, but he had to know before they died. He had the chance to ask Naruto a final question that had been burning him up throughout the whole war. Naruto the dead-last in the academy, he'd become so powerful to save his precious people and now has wasted his life trying to bring Sasuke back. Sasuke just couldn't understand why, why did he keep trying even when Sasuke had cut all ties with him.

He had to know so he asked, "Why would you do that to yourself…just to get in the way of my plans?" When Naruto didn't reply, he continued, "…I…had the power to kill any and everything that had plunged into darkness." He closed his left eye which contained the rinnegan, as he could feel the tell-tale signs of blood about to appear. "Everyone I'd ever met, or would ever meet…no matter who it was, would always want to kill me…" Sasuke paused finding it difficult to find the correct words, "…But…not you…in the end , you didn't want to kill me…"

He looked at Naruto with his right eye, willing him to answer or say anything, "After everything that happened…" Now Sasuke became frustrated, the dobe still wasn't saying anything after he just talked himself hoarse revealing his confusion. He will not die without hearing an answer! He will not die humiliated by Naruto's hand and without his question answered! He could still remember those words Naruto had said a few months ago, 'I'm the only one that can take all your hatred…' Naruto had sounded very determined then, now he wasn't saying anything. Sasuke felt his heart beat faster in shock as he realised he felt hurt that Naruto wasn't answering.

Sasuke raised his voice, "Why did you still concern yourself that much with me?!"

Sasuke saw Naruto's mouth twitch into a smile and felt slightly relieved that he was still alive. He will deny ever thinking these thoughts if they survived after this.

"You should know by now." Naruto said. But that was it, Sasuke didn't know. Then Naruto teased suddenly dispelling the serious atmosphere, "Now that your body can't move, it seems your mouth is doing a good job of making up for it."

That's it! Sasuke felt indignation rise up within him and couldn't stop himself from blushing. He hoped there were enough bruises and cuts on his face to cover it up. Sasuke replied embarrassed, "Just answer the question!"

"Because we're friends," Naruto said with the uttermost conviction, Sasuke could tell even though Naruto hadn't shouted or raised his voice. He just said it as if he believed with his everything. But Sasuke wasn't satisfied with this, he still didn't understand why Naruto kept repeating this again and again every time they fought.

So instead of fighting, this time Sasuke asked, only because he couldn't move though, "You've already said that." Sasuke narrowed his eyes, trying to finally understand where Naruto was coming from, "…But what exactly… does friend mean to you?" He said this tonelessly trying to cover up how awkward he felt. But he desperately wanted to know. Itachi had tried to convey the same message but he didn't understand why Itachi would protect a village that ruined his life. Naruto was doing the same thing. Sasuke remembered the villagers glaring hatefully at Naruto when they were younger, at the time he'd thought it was because of Naruto's pranks and idiocy, but now he knew better.

Sasuke was startled out of his thoughts when Naruto spoke, "Even if you were to ask me to explain it, I honestly don't think I'd really have an answer." Naruto furrowed his brows in thought, "It's just, when I see you carrying that burden and going on about everything the way you do…somehow…" Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the pause waiting for Naruto to finish.

"…I just hurt…" This shocked Sasuke so much; his right eye widened and felt a pang in his heart feeling regret and loss.

Naruto continued staring up not realising Sasuke's shock, "So much pain that…I just can't leave you alone!" He shouted the last part causing more pangs in Sasuke's heart at his conviction. Sasuke finally understood; it wasn't pity or selfishness that Naruto felt but empathy. Sasuke couldn't believe it he had been wrong all this time, he narrowed his eye in sadness, looking at Naruto in detail after a long time. He'd grown so much, while Sasuke had still been stuck in the past.

He almost felt like tearing up when Naruto again alleviated his sadness by joking, "Though it looks like today we did a good job of getting that pain all over the place, heh." Naruto looked at him and grinned so widely that his eyes crinkled then froze as pain shot through him. "Ow…ow…"

'Still a dobe,' Sasuke thought amused. But then he became serious as he thought of all the things he wanted to say to Naruto now that they were dying. He closed his eye, imagining a younger Naruto, not even ten years old looking lonely and dejected. '…Naruto…I knew that long ago, you always used to be alone. Just like me the one survivor of Uchiha…You were shunned by everyone in the village…'

Sasuke's life flashed through his eyes like many said when you were about to die. He remembered watching Naruto once wondering why he was so noisy and loud. 'You did stupid, foolish things to get punished on purpose…just so anyone would notice you…' Sasuke regretted insulting Naruto for how he acted then, 'When I first saw you like that, I thought you were a worthless good-for- nothing jerk. Just some weakling, who only ever wanted to mess around and play games.'

Sasuke remembered Naruto playing a prank on a gardener by hiding his tools and sticking his tongue out. 'But after always seeing you acting out and getting punished time and time again…somehow it just started to get to me.' Sasuke clenched his remaining hand, gasping as pain shot through but he forced himself continue to explain to Naruto in his thoughts. That he could do even though he couldn't say it out loud.

'At the time I thought…that little by little, your weakness was beginning to seep into me.' At the end of the day Sasuke would notice Naruto's sad smile. 'And from that point, every time I would see you, you would start to get to me more and more.' Sasuke imagined his family, his mother proudly holding him and his father with his hands on Itachi's shoulders. 'When I would see how you were desperate to be connected to other people…it would make me think of my family.'

Sasuke clenched his eyes tightly shut forcing back any tears, 'And some-how… it would make me at ease. But at the same time…I also thought it was weak.' He remembered himself training very hard throwing shuriken repeatedly. 'In order to try and escape from that weakness, I trained…so that I could get revenge on my brother…I wanted to become stronger than he was. In spite of that, I ended up in the same team as you…and once again I was facing the image of my family…' All the missions Sasuke did with Team 7 flashed through his mind, 'Going along with you on missions, with you spouting off about wanting to be Hokage…And you truly wanting to become stronger together with me…I also started to feel that someday I wanted to fight you.'

Sasuke felt exhausted and felt as if he was dreaming as he was able to picture team 7 and the other rookie 9 but carried on with his thoughts. 'And then I began to see the shadow of my family in team 7…that's why… when I would see you suffering…that's right…just like you…I would start hurting.' Sasuke's own thoughts weren't making sense now but he felt he had to give Naruto this reason for why he did what he did even though Naruto wouldn't ever know.

'When I understood your pain, that's the first time I thought of you as a friend. That was when I realised you were always alone. With someone like you around, you felt relieved…you would immediately begin to start talking and then somehow get this feeling of happiness!'

Sasuke never understood how Naruto would get back up again and again after everything he'd gone through. He had been jealous of Naruto's determination and ability to keep trying and succeeding in getting stronger. 'I, who had nothing, finally had some kind of connection…some kind of relationship.'

Sasuke remembered Naruto walking ahead of him, 'You had always walked in front of me…just like my older brother once did…today was no different…' Sasuke accepted his loss and his death as he lost all consciousness. The only thing he regretted now was not telling Naruto all this face to face before everything went quiet. What he didn't hear was Naruto's shocked thoughts as he listened to Sasuke's regretful ones.

Naruto looked at Sasuke's still face feeling deep grief at the words his friend couldn't say out loud to him. It must have been because of both jutsu's combining that he'd been able to listen to Sasuke's thoughts. A few tears dripped from his eyes as he also lost consciousness.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Sasuke felt warmth on his face and opened both eyes quickly only to be blinded by the sun. He groaned as he felt tears of pain leak from his eyes and quickly closed the eye that contained the rinnegan. He didn't want the sun to burn his eyes. He quickly realised that he was still alive and heard, "Uugg!" from his left. Naruto was still alive!

Naruto looked confused and asked, "Where are we? Could this be…heaven?!" He said the last part in wonder.

Sasuke sighed, some things never changed, still a dobe, "…It looks like we somehow slept until morning…It appears we have managed to survive again." This time Sasuke spoke with slight wonder.

"Nghk…damn it! I still can't move my body!" Naruto whined in a louder voice, he clearly retained some energy from their little nap. "I totally wanted to bash you upside the head until I smacked some sense back into you!"

Sasuke couldn't help it, "Kuku…kukuku…" he chuckled, and looking at Naruto's puzzled expression, he laughed, "Haha…haha!"

"Wha…What's so funny?" Naruto asked his lips pursed and still in shock at the sight of Sasuke laughing.

Sasuke still smiling fondly glanced at Naruto with his remaining open eye, "Even after ending up like this…you're still ready to fight…"

"Damn fucking straight! I'll take you on anytime..!" Naruto shouted at Sasuke, not actually angry at him. It was nice change seeing Sasuke laugh.

Sasuke winced slightly at the loud tone before replying, "Alright I accept it…" And these words were worth it as Naruto was rendered speechless for once, "This is…my loss."

And Naruto exploded, "You stupid asshole! This isn't a fight you can win or lose! This is between friends! I said I was going to smack some sense back into you until you woke up! The fight I wanna have comes after that!"

Sasuke winced at the loudness as his eyes were still giving him a massive headache, but he smiled slightly as he closed his eyes. "Hey…Naruto…" Sasuke whispered finding it difficult to take in breaths. He could feel the odd angle of one of his ribs poking uncomfortably giving twinges of pain.

"Yeah?" Naruto's voice quietened as he noticed Sasuke's painful breathing.

Sasuke continued breathlessly, "I've…come to accept you…," he paused to take in a few breaths, "If I die here…then that eternal destiny that the sage of the six paths talked about ends as well, doesn't it…"

Sasuke didn't notice Naruto's eyes sadden and narrow, "This could also be a kind of revolution. The infinite Tsukuyomi will dispel after I die…then you can take my left eye and transplant it into Kakashi…" Sasuke felt as if his own time was running out, "I…want to settle all my debts with my own body…" It was the least he could do after everything he'd done to the village and his teammates.

Sasuke opened his right eye again, as Naruto started to shout, "If you die…don't think that by dying anything will ever be settled!"

Sasuke let Naruto's concerned and angry voice wash over him. "If you're planning to die, then why don't you work together with me, who's living instead!"

Naruto's eyes had that shine of determination again, "What I want to do is going to take the cooperation of all shinobi everywhere! And, of course, that includes you!"

Sasuke understood what Naruto wanted so he said, "Even if I think well of you, I wouldn't be able to accept anyone else." And that was the truth; the only person he remotely cared for was Naruto even though he didn't show it.

Naruto erupted with his frustrated tones again, "Damn you! Just go ahead, try and give me more of your babbling bullshit! I'll kick your ass all over the place again!" Naruto's voice was hoarse by the time he finished.

Sasuke asked, "What if I end up opposing you again?" He genuinely wanted to know what Naruto would do.

Naruto replied quickly to that, "Then I'll stop you again. But you wouldn't do that anymore." Naruto said the last part with absolute certainty and paused waiting for Sasuke's rebuff.

But Sasuke asked calmly, his voice trembling slightly, "How…can you say that?" Sasuke looked away from Naruto's face and looked up at the blue sky which was the same colour as Naruto's eyes. It was a beautiful colour filled with warmth. He couldn't bear to look at the emotions Naruto's eyes were showing him. Sasuke already knew the answer to that question but he asked anyway, wanting Naruto to say it once more.

Naruto replied loudly, "I'm not gonna keep repeating myself to you!"

And Naruto sighed in fond exasperation, "Jeez! You still don't get it…?" He paused and put on a fake stuck up tone of voice as he replied knowing it'd piss Sasuke off, "Well, I guess it can't be helped …you were always pretty exceptionally stupid, after all…"

Naruto looked a Sasuke wanting to elicit another smile from his joke but Sasuke was looking away up at the sky, his breathing loud. Naruto looked in silence, his eyes narrowed; waiting for Sasuke to reply with an insult when he saw tears drip down from his left eye. Naruto's eyes widened in surprise at the display of Sasuke's uncontrollable emotions, first laughter and now tears. Maybe he'd gone too far…?

But then he heard Sasuke gasp and say with a choked voice, "Shut…it…usuratonkachi." And Naruto smiled.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Now Naruto was worried, no one had shown up. Kakashi-sensei and Sakura were the only ones not in the infinite Tsukuyomi and they would have found them by now, what if something had happened. Oh wait, he remembered Sasuke also putting Sakura-chan in a genjutsu. So only Kakashi-sensei was left, but he had severe chakra exhaustion so Naruto doubted their sensei would be able to get here on time to save their lives. He hoped Sakura-chan was alright.

But he had another problem to take care of first…Sasuke. The Uchiha was still in tears, shivering and panting his breaths coming out in gasps. Naruto had tried to offer words of comfort and shouted words of anger but Sasuke had shrugged it all off and continued his silence. Then Sasuke suddenly started coughing up blood and Naruto had never felt so helpless, unable to move. He didn't think Sasuke could last much longer after he witnessed the coughing.

"Shit!" Naruto shouted, frustrated at everything, he'd finally redeemed Sasuke only for them to die so soon after. His limbs had some mobility returning to them but only due to Kurama's almost non-existent chakra.

'Think again brat!' Naruto heard in his head.

'Kurama!' Naruto exclaimed happily despite all the pain, 'You're still alive!'

'Of course gaki, I'm not going out that quickly,' Naruto listened, 'I have a plan….'

Naruto thought quickly, 'Great! So we can survive?'

'I need to make contact with the Uchiha brat for it to work though,' Kurama said with regret.

'Alright! Let's do it!' Naruto felt hopeful, 'You need to talk to Sasuke right?'

'Since you are both out of chakra you need to touch the Uchiha brat and don't disturb me until I'm done,' and the Kyuubi went silent after that.

"Yosh!" Naruto shouted out of nowhere imitating Lee, which startled Sasuke so badly that he looked at Naruto.

"What is it dobe?" Sasuke asked his voice cracking still not looking at Naruto.

Naruto looked at Sasuke's face and couldn't help but snicker at the embarrassed blush Sasuke was trying and failing badly to suppress. "Kurama has a plan, but he wants to talk to you."

"Dobe if you haven't noticed I don't have much chakra left to use the sharingan." Sasuke winced in pain and at the fact he couldn't do anything.

"That doesn't matter! Kurama said we both just need to touch each other." But that proved more difficult than expected. Sasuke couldn't move at all and Naruto was trying to shuffle towards Sasuke. And both of them couldn't use their arms that were next to each other as there was nothing left. At the end of all this movement Naruto was only a few inches away from Sasuke.

"Naruto…" Sasuke's voice whispered bordering on defeat, "…I can't…" But before he could finish Naruto shouted, "Don't give up now bastard, just when I got you back!" Sasuke felt tears prick his eyes again. Then he saw the impossible; Naruto was getting up using just his left arm wobbling badly and just as he was about to fall Naruto quickly propelled his body weight to his right, rolling over on top of Sasuke effectively straddling his waist. Then suddenly he lost all strength on his arm and collapsed on top of Sasuke their foreheads bashing.

There were two cries: "Fuck!" "Naruto!"

Sasuke blinked the tears out of his eyes as his vision went white. 'I am going to kill Naruto for this if we survive.'

Sasuke looked up; he was very close to Naruto, their breaths mingling and noses bumping awkwardly. Naruto still had his eyes closed still recovering from the pain and movement. Sasuke noticed that Naruto would just have to tilt his head slightly for it to be a kiss. Then suddenly images of both of them kissing in the academy and at the waterfall popped up in his head.

'What am I thinking…?' Sasuke immediately banished those images from his mind, it was hardly appropriate in their current situation.

Naruto opened his cerulean blue eyes. He shifted almost losing his balance and Sasuke grunted, "Ugh!" as he felt Naruto press onto his broken rib. Their lips touched momentarily but Sasuke didn't notice, he could taste blood, "Naruto…you can do your great plan anytime now…" He gasped out loud, "…before I die, since you want me to be alive so badly…"

At that Naruto quickly got over the accidental kiss and thought, 'Kurama…? We're ready!'

'Okay Gaki, tell the Uchiha brat to look into your eyes with both the Rinnegan and the Sharingan.'

Kurama sounded very certain this would work so Naruto quickly passed it on to Sasuke.

"Sasuke…you're gonna have to activate your Sharingan again and look into my eyes."

At Naruto's urgent whisper Sasuke opened both eyes and activated the Sharingan with difficulty feeling blood drip form his eyes. "Hn…" He grunted and quickly looked at Naruto whose eyes were slowly turning red and the pupils becoming slits.

Kurama's chakra rose up like a swirling inferno within Naruto and everything froze as Sasuke lost all sense of gravity as if he was being pulled into a genjutsu. Then everything went black.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

Sasuke snapped his eyes open, looking up he saw glass mirrors surrounding him in a dome like shape. Where was he, did the Kyuubi's plan work, were they healed? Then he heard the sounds of battle, kunais clacking and his eyes widened as a familiar sight stood before him. Sasuke saw Naruto, but a really short one that was wearing that hideous orange jumpsuit with the Kyuubi's chakra surrounding him. In front of the young Naruto stood the boy from their first ever difficult mission as a team; the one with the kekkei genkei for ice.

Sasuke felt as if he was dreaming, he quickly and discreetly said "Kai!" The genjutsu didn't disperse, could he be in an infinite Tsukuyomi? But no, that wasn't logical; the person who initiates Tsukuyomi will never be trapped in their own jutsu. Then Sasuke's eyes widened, remembering Kyuubi's request to look into the rinnegan and sharingan. The sharingan was capable of space-time jutsu's whereas the Rinnegan gave God like power. The Kyuubi must have used a forbidden technique which combined all of that to send their minds back to their younger bodies'. Sasuke could tell it was only their minds that were sent back as his chakra level was at its lowest. He automatically assumed that they arrived exactly at this place in the middle of this battle as this was the first time the Kyuubi had let out its chakra.

He didn't witness it last time due to his lost consciousness but had been helpfully informed by an irritating Sakura about feeling a dangerous chakra afterwards. Sasuke realised there were senbon sticking out of his body and quickly started pulling them out efficiently and healing the wounds slightly with one hand, only expending necessary chakra. Staying with Orochimaru and Kabuto had its perks while it lasted, but he will not be going through that a second time he decided. The pain he felt from the senbon was minor as he'd grown resilient over the years.

He watched as Naruto destroyed the ice mirrors then beat the crap out of the ice boy destroying his mask revealing a beautiful face which was unnatural on a boy. Then Sasuke saw Naruto freeze and could clearly see his shocked and confused expression. Sasuke instantly knew this was his Naruto from the future. He immediately felt ridiculous thinking that and quickly side stepped reaching the fake hunter-nin and knocking him out quickly with the senbon he picked from his body. Sasuke knew Naruto would panic as thinking logically would be the last thing on the dobe's mind.

Naruto looked at Sasuke with his mouth open then quickly jumped back with a, "What?!" And did the hand signs for dispelling a genjutsu just like Sasuke did. "Kai!" When it didn't work Naruto kept repeating the hand signs, "KAI!" "KAI!"

"Oh shut up dobe!" Sasuke quickly brought his fist on top of Naruto's head leaving a painful lump. "And listen carefully!"

"Oww! What was that for teme?!" Naruto rubbed his head with tears in his eyes, "And why the hell do you look so young and what's Haku doing here?"

'Haku? Who the hell was Haku?' Sasuke frowned then realised Naruto must be talking about the ice-nin. Sasuke quickly explained it to Naruto in a few short words knowing anything else would just go over his head.

"No way…" Naruto looked down, "…I can't believe it!" He exclaimed a moment later staring at his hands which were much smaller than the last time Sasuke saw them.

Sasuke didn't know what to say to that, to be honest he himself was also very shocked. He examined Naruto; the blonde was very short and had rounded cheeks. It was very strange seeing his 'friend' look younger; he noticed many small details that he wouldn't have noticed when they were actually thirteen. Sasuke watched Naruto rub the back of his head looking confused while pursuing his lips when he couldn't grasp something. It was actually kind of…cute… Sasuke winced internally at the adjective his brain brought up so he thought, 'no not cute…just better than before…' He brought his left hand to his forehead at the phantom signs of a headache. At that he looked surprised. His hand wasn't missing; Sasuke wriggled his fingers experimentally testing out what he could do. Nothing hurt. All their injuries from their final battle had vanished. So it was only truly their minds that remembered. Sasuke saw Naruto smirking while giving him a knowing look from the corner of his eye. So Sasuke huffed and looked away crossing his arms, "Usuratonkachi…"

"HEY! I heard that!" Naruto pointed at him indignantly. Then they both paused at the sound of birds chirping signalling Kakashi's use of the chidori.

One crucial thing, both had completely forgotten about the ongoing battle between Zabuza and Kakashi and the wave mission altogether.

"Naruto!" Sasuke said firmly, "We will discuss this later, now we must focus on the mission."

Naruto just nodded and both of them grabbed Haku under the shoulders on each side and started dragging the ice-nin. Their smaller size gave them both a huge disadvantage and the mist completely blocked their sight so Naruto followed the smell of Sakura's perfume, while Sasuke used his under-developed, two-tomoe sharingan to locate Sakura's chakra coils. Walking felt awkward to Sasuke with his shorter legs. As they were close to Sakura and the bridge builder the mist started to disperse and a much younger looking Kakashi shunshined next to Sakura making her squeal in shock.

"My…my…" Kakashi placed one hand on his hip and leaned forward, "My cute little genin are all grown up." He said it with such a Kakashi-sensei eye-smile that Sasuke had to cover up his amusement from showing. While Naruto just openly grinned at him fondly, Kakashi did a double take at that.

"You…you!" Naruto pointed at Kakashi before he could say anything, "ARE YOU OKAY SENSEI?" Naruto's voice still hadn't matured so it was very high pitched and annoying, and Sasuke thought Naruto was overdoing it a bit trying to act thirteen. Naruto's high pitched voice was giving him a headache.

Sasuke winced and quickly wiped the blood from his mouth feeling exhausted from all the emotions and trials he went through that day from the future. Sakura noticed his weary expression and quickly attached to him like a limpet as she shouted, "Did baka-Naruto make you do all the work Sasuke-kun?" Her voice was even squeakier and Sasuke actually considered putting a chidori through her chest right now, even though he wasn't meant to know it just yet. But thankfully Sasuke was interrupted from his murderous thoughts when a nasal voice spoke.

"Hey! You guys are too at ease!"

They turned and saw Gatou's group of men standing with ridiculously long weapons. As far as Sasuke knew, this happened exactly like last time. Naruto created shadow clones and Kakashi added his own to the mix. Then Inari and the villagers turned up. This completely intimidated the group so they turned tail and ran like the cowards they were.

Naruto saw Haku groan and get up painfully while taking the senbon out. Kakashi quickly drew out a kunai in case of a threat. Since Sasuke had knocked Haku out earlier in panic, he'd inadvertently saved his life. Naruto chuckled; already things were changing for the better!

"Zabuza-sama! No!" Haku shouted once he saw the prone body lying a few feet away from them. Kakashi saw the teary face and sighed. He quickly covered his sharingan and picked Haku up and brought him closer to Zabuza, placing Haku down gently on the ground once they were there.

Zabuza grinned and gasped out, "That's good, you're alive…"

Haku looked aghast at the sight of Zabuza. He quickly got on his knees, "Zabuza-sama, I want to go to the same place as you…" Zabuza ruffled his hair as Haku looked away hiding his tears. "Y-you can't die!"

"It's alright, you live happily understand, go with these Konoha ninjas if you have to," Zabuza's eyes closed, "We will eventually meet again at the same place…you deserve better…" And with that Zabuza died. Only Haku's wails could be heard from miles away.

**The next day…**

They had buried Zabuza near the forest where Naruto first met Haku. Zabuza was after all a missing-nin and burying him in a public cemetery would bring unwanted attention. Naruto and Sasuke watched from a distance as Haku sat unmoving and head bent in front of the memorial, his long hair covering his face hiding his expressions.

Haku had shared his traumatic past with them just a few hours ago. Sasuke didn't know this last time so this gave him lots to think about. 'Another person that shares the same pain Naruto and I went through.' Sasuke clenched his fists in anger, the world was cruel. He was in such deep thought that when Naruto placed a hand on his shoulder, Sasuke tensed up immediately.

"Hey, relax already," Naruto teased, "You are going to get wrinkles from that frown."

Sasuke ignored that, "He's just like us…"

"Yeah…" Naruto's eyes turned darker as a painful emotion crossed his face, "You know…Haku was the one that gave me a reason to become stronger."

Sasuke looked at Naruto questioningly.

"He told me…" Naruto rubbed Sasuke's shoulder subconsciously, causing Sasuke to relax his shoulders slightly, feeling comforted from the motion, "When…a person has something important to protect…that's when they can truly become strong."

Sasuke looked at Naruto; the blonde had such a melancholy expression but it quickly changed as Naruto also looked at Sasuke and grinned, "I've never forgotten those words," Naruto's grip on Sasuke tightened, "When I feel down, I think of all my precious people I want to protect and I feel stronger…"

Naruto drifted off to leave a comfortable silence and turned back to look at Haku.

Sasuke didn't look away from the blonde as he thought, a few things becoming clearer in his mind. Naruto's determination to bring him back to the village and all those 'you're my friend' speeches. Sasuke finally understood, he was one of Naruto's precious people. 'Oh Naruto…I put you through so much…'

At that moment he decided, just there and then, that Naruto was his most precious person. And Sasuke will never aim to kill Naruto, even if the dobe was being very irritating. Sasuke made his vow.

Unknowingly he'd already started a revolution.

**A few metres away at the same time, hidden behind bushes….**

Sakura and Kakashi were looking at Naruto and Sasuke's sudden friendliness, they were out of hearing range so didn't know what the boys were saying.

"Kakashi-sensei…?"

"Yes Sakura?" Kakashi flipped a page on his Icha Icha book.

"Since when were Naruto-baka and Sasuke-kun friends?" She asked sweetly while Inner Sakura screamed profanities, "NARUTO-BAKA WILL DIE FOR SHARING A MOMENT WITH MY SASUKE-KUN! SHANNARO!" And Inner Sakura smashed a boulder just like the Sakura in the future actually did.

Kakashi was also surprised at the sudden change but hid it well; the battle must have changed things. He assumed having to work together to prevent their deaths changed both boys' perspectives. Well it was better that they were starting to take teamwork seriously, so Kakashi gave Sakura a nonchalant answer, "Fighting for your life changes things." And they both went back to spying on both boys, Sakura still fuming inside.


	3. Chapter 2

Five figures stood in silence behind a giant sword that marked the final resting place of an unfortunate nuke ninja. All five had packed travelling bags strung on their shoulders. The Great Naruto Bridge had finally been built, the villagers' content and joy could be heard from every part of Wave.

The villagers expressed their gratitude to the four Konoha ninjas and the ice ninja by giving them gifts. Little personalised items, for example Naruto received a little doll made by a small five year old. This almost brought tears to his eyes. He had not understood the significance of it the previously but now he knew it was the first sign of acknowledgment. Before, Naruto remembered putting all the little gifts he received under his bed without a care, more interested in learning jutsus and getting everyone to notice him. This time he vowed take care of them and put more effort into important things in life too. Like giving Hokage-jiji a huge hug as soon as they got back home. That's right...Ero-senin would be alive too! So would Asuma Sarutobi and everyone who died in the Shinobi war. Naruto couldn't wait to get back to Konoha now! He didn't contain his excitement jumping up and down with excess energy causing Kakashi to sweat drop.

It was time for them to return home.

The long haired ninja kneeled down placing a small ice encrusted flower on the ground next to the sword. As soon as his hands touched the ground there was the sound of crunching glass.

Sasuke stared in wonder. Sakura let out a small gasp and Naruto exclaimed in surprise. Kakashi's visible eye widened as he quickly uncovered his Sharingan to examine closely. Where Haku had placed his hands, ice grew from the ground, twisting and twirling as it grew around the sword. The sword was completely engulfed in the ice as it formed a cuboidal shape all the way up to the hilt. Haku lifted his hands again and with a grunt placed them again on the ground focusing hard, sweat dripping down his brow. Closing his eyes he whispered something Sasuke couldn't hear. More ice grew from the ground only this time it was inside the already solid box of ice.

The ice formed a long thin thread which wrapped around the sword. Finally Haku was done, he collapsed to the ground exhaustion taking over. It was truly a work of art. The sun rising made the ice shimmer in an ethereal way.

Kakashi crouched down next to Haku placing his hand on Haku's back in support.

"What was that?" Naruto blurted not able to wait any longer. Sasuke also looked at Haku expectantly also wanting to know just like the other three.

Haku smiled, "This is my greatest jutsu yet..." He frowned in pain, "...although it takes a huge amount of chakra."

Kakashi covered his Sharingan, "I have never seen such a sturdy shield."

"Only those with my kekkai genkai can use it, it is a protective barrier."

Sakura frowned, "But why do you need to protect Zabuza-san's grave? I mean to this extent," she amended after realising it might sound rude. Naruto nodded in agreement to keep up appearances even though he had a pretty good idea.

Haku looked at the ice encrusted grave, "Zabuza-sama was after all one of the greatest swordsmen of the mist, many will want his weapon once they hear of his death."

Sasuke suddenly remembered how he'd helped Suigetsu to steal the sword and knew Haku was justified in doing what he did. Now this proved things to be more difficult. He had been planning on freeing his former team Hebi from Orochimaru's hands but he knew winning their loyalty this time round would be more difficult. He'd need this sword for Suigetsu, Juugo he could manage and Karin would be dead easy, he'd just have to look at her for her to do anything he says.

Getting the sword will be difficult...now how to go about that...

Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted.

Kakashi helped Haku stand keeping a firm hand on the young ninja's back. "No one alive will be able to replicate that, even with the Sharingan."

Haku spoke, "Unless I willingly remove it, only my death will cause it to disappear."

Sasuke felt slightly disappointed, now the goal felt impossible. He hadn't mentioned any of his plans to Naruto wanting to keep him from being worried and raising his temper at the thought of Sasuke going back to Orochimaru's first hideout. Actually they hadn't had any time to discuss anything as they shared a room with Kakashi and were exhausted constantly with helping building the bridge. And Sasuke remembered how hard it was to have a bit of privacy when they were in team seven.

But two weeks were a good amount of time for Sasuke to come to terms with and get his head around what had happened. Although he still felt as if he was drenched in a genjutsu as this whole experience felt so unrealistic.

The thought of his brother being alive again made his heart clench in pain. It was difficult to think of Itachi without feeling so guilty and hurt, that Sasuke just avoided thinking about his brother for the moment.

Itachi's final words echoed painfully all the time in Sasuke's mind after his death, 'I will always love you brother...' Sasuke didn't want to admit he felt guilt and regret after killing his brother as he'd left everything behind for it to be his life goal only to find out Itachi wasn't the real criminal who played a hand in his parents deaths. Taking revenge on Konoha just won't work anymore either. Going against Konoha he would turn away Naruto which he absolutely could not do.

He knew he had to save Itachi this time, his brother didn't deserve what the village had done to him. But Sasuke just didn't know how. He'd have to make contact first and lure Itachi to a place where they could meet undisturbed. That was also going to be difficult. Maybe he should discuss it with Naruto first. They had so much to talk about when they finally go back home.

'Hm...Konoha hadn't been home in years...' Sasuke was sort of looking forward to going back, he had lots of plans for Danzo.

He came back to the present when Sakura spoke, "Is it like this for all ninjas?"

Sasuke realised he had no idea what Sakura's question was about, he'd spaced out for too long.

"It's the same in the village hidden in the leaves," Kakashi looked grim, "Well it's a question without an answer and that is a question we ninjas have to deal with the rest of our lives."

Picking up the conversation, Sasuke nodded subconsciously in agreement, it was the truth, he'd come to terms with it earlier than most ninjas as he had to face the truth when his clan had been massacred.

Sasuke saw Naruto's hands clench and knew the dobe was going to explode with annoyance. He suddenly remembered a similar outburst taking place when they had actually been thirteen.

"That's complete crap!" Naruto exclaimed, "from now on I'm following the way of Naruto!" He threw his hands up in the air.

Sasuke rolled his eyes in fond exasperation, trust Naruto to repeat his previous words and overdo it!

Kakashi sighed as Sakura started to shout at Naruto about following the rules. Haku looked helpless and looked to Sasuke for help. Sasuke just shrugged and walked away towards the bridge.

Haku followed him having recovered, "Sasuke-kun," he questioned in a polite tone, "Your team is always like this?"

"Hn...yes..." Sasuke didn't know what to say after that.

But Haku laughed, his voice soft "You know...I think I might enjoy travelling with all of you!"

Sasuke stared, he wouldn't have found joy in the company of his mentor's killers, but this was surprising. "Why aren't you angry?"

Haku mellowed at Sasuke's serious tone, "Because Zabuza-Sama told me to move on and I want to fulfil his last wish." Sasuke regretted bringing it up when he saw raw pain in the nuke-nin's eyes. Sasuke felt respect for Haku when he managed to keep his composure.

"I wouldn't be able to do that."

Haku smiled at Sasuke's honesty. They didn't say anything after that as they waited in companionable silence for the other three to catch up behind them. What they didn't realise were Kakashi's eyes on Sasuke behind the cover of his book, looking contemplative.


End file.
